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We watched for the small plane that held the cauys

Then I went

My turns were as tight as possible, covering little to no horizontal distance as Ieverything from my mind except the snow beneath me and the rock aboveht not find purchase when I hit

"Nearing the end," Alex said through the radio as the rope tightened

I found the sle ended, and hitoff belay"

Then I unclipped and stood there as Gabe ulps, en that wasn’t there Sweat ran in a cold river downoven I knew better than to unzipfor a way to cool down that wouldn’t killh down the ed in a whisper, holding my breath when his last skid was close to a fall

This whole dae was a no-fall zone

Finally heoff belay," he said over the radio

The rope snaked past where I could see on its way back up to Alex

"Good luck, you two I’ll see you at the bottoh the radio

"Be careful on your line," I told him

Gabe’s chest heaved as he rested "Fuck Me That Was Intense"

"Just getting started," I said with a sood, and I’m ready to drop in when you are"

He nodded "Just Give Me A minute"

"No problem" I hit the button onokay down there?"

"We’re good," Pax answered after a et the hell out of here when you’re done"

"Good plan," I answered "We’ll wait for the plane to coer that"

"Rach, is that line still looking the best?" I knew it hadn’t changed in the hour it had taken us to drop this far, but I just wanted to hear her voice again

"You’re still in the clear," she answered "Be careful"

"Always," I replied "Ready?" I asked Gabe

"As I’ll ever be Fuck, Iabout altitude--all the training I’d done in the Tetons, the Alps…none of it rivaled this The only true training for the Hi in," I said over the radio